I speak of the subject with a certain degree of hesitation, because the
thing farthest from my thought is taking advantage of nations now
disabled from playing their full part in that competition, and seeking a
sudden selfish advantage because they are for the time being disabled.
Pray believe me that we ought to eliminate all that thought from our
minds and consider this matter as if we and the other nations now at war
were in the normal circumstances of commerce.
There is a normal circumstance of commerce in which we are apparently at
a disadvantage. Our anti-trust laws are thought by some to make it
illegal for merchants in the United States to form combinations for the
purpose of strengthening themselves in taking advantage of the
opportunities of foreign trade. That is a very serious matter for this
reason: There are some corporations, and some firms for all I know,
whose business is great enough and whose resources are abundant enough
to enable them to establish selling agencies in foreign countries; to
enable them to extend the long credits which in some cases are necessary
in order to keep the trade they desire; to enable them, in other words,
to organize their business in foreign territory in a way which the
smaller man cannot afford to do.
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